Venezuelans stick it to The Man

RALPH DE LA CRUZ Commentary

Those of us who work for news enterprises are fanatics for transparency.

So, a journalist would be the last person I'd expect to request anonymity.

Unless that journalist is from Venezuela.

You see, to speak out in Venezuela these days is to face possible professional and personal retribution.

"It's a tragedy," said the journalist from Caracas who was visiting South Florida last week.

Venezuela, a country that once boasted a strong democracy and a proud, free press, is in the dog days of revolution. That moment when upheaval becomes less about change for The People and more about power for The Man.

As a Cuban, I know it well. We've had our 48-year "moment" with The Man.

In Venezuela's case, The Man is Hugo Chavez.

He took control of the government nine years ago and doesn't want to give it up.Last week, he asked voters to amend the Venezuelan constitution to allow Chavez to run again for president. And run and run and run some more.

Luckily, by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent, voters rejected the Energizer bunny amendment. It was Chavez's first electoral defeat, and leaves this oil-rich country - and South Florida - at a crossroads.

Will Venezuela continue to follow Chavez's populist Bolivarian Revolution? How deeply has Chavez's power been diminished? And will we get another wave of Venezuelan immigration?

So when I had the opportunity to chat with the journalist, I jumped at it, even if I couldn't use his name.

"The defeat for Chavez the other day has given us some hope of perhaps putting the brakes on him," the man told me.

But the result must have been a surprise, I said. After all, authoritarians don't often lose close votes.

"I think one of the things that happened was that, behind the scenes, there was pressure on Chavez from the military," he said. "It's said that Raul Baduel [former defense minister and Chavez ally] spoke to the armed forces before the vote and urged them to respect the constitution."

Because of the army's stance, the opposition had unprecedented access to polling stations and the media.

But the backbreaker, and something I hadn't heard before, was that it was many of Chavez's previous supporters were behind his first defeat.

"First, the country has had a shortage of foodstuffs. Things such as milk, meat and rice. People are not happy.

"And second, this hasn't been a typical revolution. It's a revolution financed by oil. The Chavistas speak out against the rich, but because of oil money they've done very well under Chavez. They've bought cars and houses. And they're not too enthusiastic about reforms that might take that away."

Venezuelans have taken to calling those Chavez supporters "Bolivabourgeoisie."

The journalist said one ad that seemed to particularly resonate with the Bolivabourgeoisie showed a small business owner being told by government agents that they were confiscating his small business because "it belongs to the people." And the man answers, "Hey, I'm one of the people."

But the journalist has seen too much to think Chavez's defeat signals the end.

"Chavez does what he sets out to do, but he does it slowly," he continued. "That way, people are eased into it. It's like what they say about boiling a frog. You have to make sure the water's heated. But not too much. If it's too hot, the frog will jump out the moment it hits the water.

"It's never easy to even consider leaving your homeland," the man continued. "But people whose families immigrated to Venezuela from other countries, who have access to a passport from another country, are getting their papers together. Just in case."

Ralph De La Cruz can be reached at rdelacruz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4727. Read his blog at Sun-Sentinel.com/ralphblog